"take a bit more convincing"

[nagomi]

"DOES trade hurt wages? Or, more precisely, do imports from low-wage economies hurt workers in high-wage ones? Many people assume so. Economists take a bit more convincing."

The sentence above has the part I want to ask about.

what does "take a bit convincing" mean?

 

[Barque]

what does "take a bit convincing" mean?

It's "take a bit more convincing", not "take a bit convincing".

It's an idiomatic phrase. In your sentence it means it's harder to convince economists of the statements in the first two sentences than other people.

 

[Cagey]

Where did you see this, nagomi?

We ask you to give name the source of every quotation.